


In the shadow of the blood moon

by Hushhush13



Series: The darkness inside [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, F/M, M/M, Magic-Users, Original Character Death(s), Urban Legends, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-23 14:03:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6118647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hushhush13/pseuds/Hushhush13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the seventeenth century, work was harder and lives are short but overall everyone is happy, until the beast comes. For almost 30 years, the beast has been slaughtering villagers without mercy and creating chaos all across the plains until Shinar decides to confront the beast, but finds that after the deaths still continue. Will there be anyway for the deaths to stop or is it all in vain?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

(December 13th,1754, 11:48 pm)  
It was just a few minutes after midnight when the old witch at the edge of the village, Shinar decided it was time. The storms lately had been ferocious, burying the tiny village of casein, located in the small valley between two mountains. The roads were treacherous and if the starvation didn’t kill you, the cold would. It had been over thirty years since her son had departed, and now she was alone. The villagers looked after her and for 30 long years, there was peace. But this could no longer be put off. The beast had taken livestock in the beginning but now, it was taking the villagers, and things were becoming desperate. This needed to be stopped. She finished packing her small travel pack and took one last glance around. The walls were no longer a light fresh brown colour but a dark stained, like the taint of the beast in the forest had seeped into the houses very aura. The place was now bare and quiet, the lights all put out, ghosts of memories haunting. She sighs, saying her final good bye and heads outside into the cold night. The snow had let up a few hours ago, but no one was willing to brave neither the woods nor the roads, the fear was heavy in the air. The beast would be hungry, and anyone outside would be easy pickings. 

Heading north, Shinar moved quickly. She could not afford to be stopped now, nor could the village afford it. Wolves bayed loudly in the quiet night, hunting and killing, but distant. She quickly headed north, straight into the forest. She had a task; this was her failure, her mistake. She would fix this. The wind cut her to the bone, the branches tore at her clothes and the snow threatened to pull her down, but she continued. Moving quickly she estimated she’d have about another thirty minutes before she reached her destination. Not soon enough.

Unbidden memories from the past flashed behind her eyes. A handsome stranger calling in the night, the snake in the grass, asking for her assistance in personal matters. The months he spent with her, the deal they struck. The love between them was burning too hot, too hot. The murders surrounding the village, people torn limb from limb. The betrayal on his face when she stabbed that dagger straight into his heart. The unmarked grave in the clearing they first joined. Finding out she was with child, the fear, the worry. The babies with the mixed eyes, of blue ice and red fire. The three year old children with the chubby cheeks and the dimples. The nine year old boys who were silent and contemplative. The 15 year old boys who neither looked at the others in a romantic way, nor in one of friendship. The day of their 18th birthday when their clothes were found shredded in a pool of blood by the edge of the forest. The funeral held for them, no one came. The year of the dead winter. And finally the year the beast came. A village that once boasted having over 500 occupants now held a little under 200 after the three days of carnage the beast created. 

Shinar stopped, pain lancing her heart. Her boys had been gone so long, too long. Her kind, sweet and quiet Damares and her rough, brash and loud Deimos. They had taken after their father, being strong, tall and wide. She had taught them everything about what they were and prayed they wouldn’t follow in their father’s footsteps, but she was helpless in the end. Tears briefly slipped down her cheeks, remembering what she had lost, before she wiped them and trudged onward, she was almost there.

The beast was her fault, for she had created him, and she would also be the one to end him. She finally arrived at the clearing and glanced around. The lake shimmered like crystal beneath the full moon, trees dead and barren, like the bones of long dead myths. Everything was silent, but it was too silent. He was here, she waited. A flash in the darkness, red eyes peering from the darkness between two trees. He knew she was here. She walked into the edge of the clearing, and waited for his move. Long minutes pass before the creature steps out from the darkness. The beast. He stood over 12 feet tall and 5 feet across. Thick muscled fur lined his entire body, making it hard to distinguish the difference between feature and shadow. A long muzzle full of sharp teeth pointed in her direction, tall sharp ears pointed towards the woods. Clawed hands hanging loosely by sides and tail still behind him. The beast was a pure blood werewolf of legend. La bête de argent. 

Both stared for long minutes before Shinar raised one arm and commanded “this has gone on long enough” She placed one hand palm up. The beast stared at it for long moments before it raised its arm in mirror image to hers, palm floating above hers. As the hand lowered, claws shortened, fur receded and shadows dispersed, leaving a male hand cupping hers. Shinar smiled and glanced into the beautiful mixed eyes staring back

“It’s time to come home now, Damares”


	2. Dave's unfortunate end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave hears the butcher of his family and remembers the events leading to this moment.

(6 months later)

  
-9:00 pm -

  
Young Dave Mathewson of long peak village never really thought about his mortality. He was only a boy of 10 after all and he had much better things to worry about, like playing with the other boys, his farm chores, and avoiding his father. But now, as he lay cowering under his parent’s bed, listening to the lady laugh as she butchers his family, their dying screams ending in gurgling and thumps, he thought of his death. He wished he had never set that woman in the woods free.

_-Flashback-_   
_“Dave I need you to go on down to the river and fetch a bucket of water for your mother.” His father called from the door of the barn up to the loft where Dave hid. His father was known for his temper since it was discovered he wasn’t his fathers “son”. He winced and glanced over the edge of the beam. His father was already pissed, meaning his mother had gotten the special treatment. He sighed and brought his body back to lie on the beam, closing his eyes briefly and picturing a life free of his father for him and his mother._

_“Of course, father” he replied after a few minutes._

_“I told you not to call me that you no good bastard of a child.” His father snarls before walking out the door. Dave knows from experience, however, that his father is waiting outside the door to hit him when he leaves the barn so he waits for a few minutes and when he hears the crunching as his father walks away he slides down the ladder and, after quickly grabbing a bucket, runs as fast as he can into the woods. Once he’s in the woods, however, he slows down and takes his time. The forest itself is green once more, full of life and noise. The chitter of squirrels as they dance from tree to tree, and buzzing on insects. He takes his time to admire the area around him and when he arrives at the river, he just sits at the edge and stares into the water._   
_Wonder what it’d be like if mom and I ran off? Shaking the thought out of his head he begins to stand up when a noise behind him startles him. Spinning around he sees nothing at first, but as he strains he catches a glint just off the path, shrouded in darkness. Curious, he leaves his bucket and starts towards it. The closer he gets the more he sees that the woods seem….sick. Everything is rotting and dark, and no animal sounds could be heard. He stops halfway, and his first response is to run. To flee back home and never come this way again. But he can’t, his elder brother comes this way all the time, he’d somehow know that Dave fled and would tell everyone. Scared but determined, he continues through the trees to a small clearing with a dilapidated house in the middle. The house was dark grey, moss and decay stretched its length, windows were blackened and the roof was missing pieces. The house itself looked haunting but it wasn’t the house that scared Dave. It was the aura; it felt like something monstrous was waiting inside the house. Turning around, he was about to run back to the path when a beautiful singing voice caught his attention. Fear fled him and he found himself going up to the door and knocking. Silence greeted him for a moment, then a beautiful voice called him in. at first he hesitated, then he shook his head, opened the door and entered. Looking around, he saw no furniture except for a huge, beautiful golden mirror in the corner._

_“Is anyone there?” he called out unsure if he had originally heard anything or if it had been his imagination._   
_“Yes, I’m over here silly” came a whimsical feminine voice from the direction of the mirror. Dave approached the mirror and looked around, seeing no one but his reflection in the mirror._

_“Where exactly? Behind the mirror?” Dave asked curiously, glancing behind it and saw nothing._

_“No silly, I’m IN the mirror” the voice replied mockingly._   
_“That aint possible miss, aint nothing able to go in a mirror” he grumbled irritably, hating when adults tried to trick him._   
_“It is possible if you were trapped in the mirror by a cruel and evil witch and a wretched dog.” The voice chimed quietly, almost sadly._   
_“What do you mean? How can someone be trapped in a mirror? What witch? What about a dog?” Dave asked excitedly. It sounded like the stories his grandma used to tell him, and being a curious boy he couldn’t wait to hear it._   
_“Well it’s an awful long story, but if you’ve time I can tell you” the voice chimed convincingly._   
_“I got time ma’am” Dave said excitedly._   
_“Excellent, well here goes…” and over the course of the next hour and half the mirror told her sad tale. About how she fell in love with a woman named Collette, whose hair was golden wheat and whose skin was sun kissed. When Collette’s brother Charles came into town, how things had been tense but when Charles moved on, things settled down. She spoke of when she discovered Collette’s secret. About how Collette had been a werewolf, a wild and savage beast that had calmed down when she had found her singer, her mate. About how when Collette came home and told the spirit the news, the spirit had demanded to know who Collette’s mate was, and Collette had admitted it was another, but that she would never leave the spirit as long as she lived. The spirit spoke of how not long after that reveal, Collette was found torn apart. And how Charles had been furious, demanding the blood of the spirit, but the spirit had been clever and had a witch cast a spell to turn him into a ghost, and Charles had stated he’d be back to finish things. The spirit originally hadn’t believed him until he showed up with the witch Shinar, who had freed Charles from the curse and had cursed her to remain in mirror until someone freed her from her cage._

_When the spirit finished her story, Dave sat quietly for a long time; reviewing the story he had just been told. This was nothing like grandmothers stories, but he felt bad. Collette had been killed by another and the spirit was forced to lie in torment as a result of Charles anger. Quietly he asked, “Is there any way to free you?”_

_“Why yes child there is, you just have to look into the mirror and chant my name three times” the voice replied happily._   
_“So what’s your name then?” Dave asked excitedly, he thought he was doing the right thing, but his heart felt heavy. He wondered why briefly but disregarded it._   
_“Mary”_

_-End of flashback-_

  
The screams have gone silent, and everything goes still. He holds his breath and prays to god above for salvation, he apologises for everything and thought that he had offended him with, and prays for a saviour from this. Minutes pass and he thinks he safe, until the bed is ripped away, going through the wall into the dining area. Dave closes his eyes, breathing heavily, and slowly turns his body around. He opens his eyes and meets the pure back eyes of the creature behind him. Her long black hair was stringy, face pure white and too smooth, teeth just a bit too sharp and covered in his families blood. The creature suddenly smiles and darts forward, grabbing Dave by the throat it purred into his ear in an all too familiar voice

“My full name is Bloody Mary”


	3. Jacob's drunken end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why hadn’t he told anyone he had seen the man standing over the body?

Old man Jacobs knew his reputation for being less than savory, for hugging the drink until he saw things, but this different. It started when the lady named Shinar had moved in next door. Now, Shinar seemed fine, friendly even, as she was the new village healer. The man he’d seen however set your teeth on edge.

The first time Jacob saw the man was when Shinar introduced herself to him, and the man stood about five feet behind her. While she was a comfortable five foot or so, long brown hair and beautifully aged heart shaped face the spoke of calm kindness and understanding, he was a hulking seven feet of pure muscle and raw power and indifference. He stood tall; never sloughing, the pride and dominance in his stance made him someone you’d want to follow. His shaggy jet black hair spiked up making each line of his face more sharp and graceful, giving him a primal fey beauty. Piercing mixed eyes, set elegantly within their sockets, watched stoically over the woman stood in front of him. The curve of full lips and the stiff set of his strong square showed nothing of his current emotional state but highlights a deep scar that curved from the jaw bone itself down his throat about five or six inches. Overall, Jacobs was uncertain as to what exactly it was, but there had been something irregular about him. Perhaps it was the stoic demeanor or perhaps simply his painful silence. But nonetheless, he put Jacobs’s teeth on edge until after they had left and it wasn’t until later that very night, nursing a bottle and watching the fire burn low, did he figure it out what had bothered him about the large male. It had been what he had glimpsed lurking in his eyes.

Pure dark hunger.

Ever since that day however, he hasn’t seen hide or hair of the man, and thinking back on the incident he didn’t remember Shinar even speaking or introducing the male. When he asked people in the village about whether or not they had seen him, they laughed and accused him of enjoying his drink a little too much lately, so maybe he had dreamed the man up? It was likely as he had been known to see things before, so he ignored it and that gut instinct that told him the man was still around. It was difficult at first, ignoring the urging of his gut to run from Shinar, to avoid even his own house for its proximity to hers, but when Matthew, the old bastard of a farmer down by the river, and his family were found torn to pieces in their house, little Dave found mostly eaten, he forgot entirely about the mystery of the man. Instead the village was talking about what kind of wild animal could have torn them apart so savagely and how it was such a shame. After a few weeks had passed, however, people started whispering about how it couldn’t have been a wild animal, because the only one eaten was young Dave, and no animal was able to tear a grown man’s arms off, and a blanket of fear settled over the village. No one went out after dark and no one with anything to lose walked alone. Until little May, five year old daughter of Thom, went missing in the night. The next day, everyone was in the woods searching for the girl, calling her name and begging for a happy ending, praying the child would just have wandered off.

 

But there was no happy ending for the child.

 

It had been Jacobs who had found her torn to pieces down by the path to the next village, who had been forced to tell her parents of her fate, and who had gone home later on that night with the same question bouncing around in his head as he drank the rest of his bottle then slowly took the rope and tied it into the noose.

 

Why hadn’t he told anyone he had seen the man standing over the body?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn it, Shinar thought as she observed the way Jacobs’s body swung from the rafter. She knew he had saw something and had hoped he had been able to help her figure out the girls final moments. Something about all of this was setting her on edge and seeing this wasn’t helping. A creak from the floorboards behind her sent her spinning around only to meet concerned mixed eyes.

“did you do this” she snarled, gesturing behind her towards Jacobs body. Her body language went to a defensive position, ready for anything.

“no” came the deep rumbling reply from the figure in the shadows. Shinar detected no lies from his answer so she dropped her defensive posture and turned back to the body, sighing and letting the sadness she felt for the fates of the Matthew family, the girl and now Jacob wash over her. Something was wrong.

“did you find anything? Anything of use? Anything worth mentioning?” The silence that followed her question only served to set her further on edge, and when she spun to see if he had left her she heard his sigh.

“full moon is in a few days” came the reluctant reply, voice husky and smooth. It was an avoidance of her question. He had found something.

“answer me Damares. What. Did. You. Find”

“there’s another like me sniffing around.” It wasn’t the answer she wanted so she spun and, using the ancient power in her blood, raised her hand, sending Damares sailing through the door. Leaving the house and standing over him on the porch, she was once again struck by how inhumanly handsome he was as the human and how terrifying he was as the beast. She leaned over his prone position on the ground and made eye contact.

“what did you find?” they stared for a long time before Damares sighed and dropped back against the ground, closing his eyes.

“I found a mirror”

And that statement was more terrifying than anything Shinar had seen in her immortal lifetime. Mary could only return if the blood of the mother, father, and son returned to this village. This answered who had killed the Matthew family and possibly the girl, but it also turned her blood to ice. Mary couldn’t return if only her son and she returned to this village. she would have to check the grave to ensure she was correct but she knew what she would find, deep down she probably always knew.

And Charles was still alive and he was closer than she had realised.


End file.
